Making Glastonbury Schools More Diverse

A Community Conversation, sponsored by the Glastonbury Martin Luther King Community Initiative (GMLKCI), focusing on exploring possible next steps to more diverse schools in Glastonbury and how Glastonbury can continue in the struggle to eliminate school segregation will be held Monday, November 16 at 7 p.m. at the Glastonbury-East Hartford Magnet School on Oak Street.

The goal of this Community Conversation on School Diversity is to provide Glastonbury residents with the opportunity to question individuals who are both knowledgeable and experienced with respect to the benefits and the costs of building a more inclusive school system, including educational and legal experts, the School Superintendent, the chairperson of the Board of Education, ABC House and Open Choice students who are benefitting from being enrolled in the Glastonbury school system, and parents of such students.

The panel will be moderated by Philip Tegeler, a member of the original Sheff legal team and the current Executive Director of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council (PRRAC), a civil rights policy organization based in Washington, D.C. PRRAC’s mission is to promote research-based advocacy on structural inequality issues, with a focus on the causes and consequences of housing and school segregation. Tegeler is a civil rights lawyer with more than 25 years experience in fair housing, educational equity, land use law, and institutional reform litigation. Joining him on the panel will be Dr. Alan Bookman, Glastonbury School Superintendent; Susan Karp, Chairperson of the Glastonbury Board of Education; Tim Sullivan, Assistant Superintendent of the Capital Region Education Council (CREC) Schools; David Daye, CREC Managing Director of the Hartford Region Open Choice Program; Kim Bobin, CREC’s Open Choice liaison for the Wethersfield school system; students who attend Glastonbury High School as part of Open Choice and the ABC House; and parents.

GMLKCI vice-president Leslie Ohta, who planned this Conversation, noted that studies consistently demonstrate that there is a strong correlation between schools which are inclusive, racially, culturally, and economically, and educational benefits to both the minority students and the majority students. Benefits include increased math, science, and reading proficiencies; increased critical thinking and analytical skills; and in a greater likelihood to graduate from high school. In addition, diverse schools are better equipped than high-poverty schools to counteract the negative effects of poverty. Students who attend diverse schools are more likely than their counterparts in segregated schools to choose diverse colleges, neighborhoods, and workplaces, and are more likely to form cross-racial friendships.

All are invited to attend a reception for panelists and Glastonbury Open Choice and ABC House students and their parents from 6 to 7 p.m., prior to the Conversation. For more information, please contact Leslie Ohta at 202-538-1161 or Susan Marks at 860-841-7144, or www.glastonburymlkci.org.

Glastonbury Community Conversations are made possible with support from the Norma & Natale Sestero fund at Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The event is free and open to the public.